A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL EXPERIENCE OF TRANSVERSEABDOMINAL PLANE (TAP) BLOCK VERSUS LOCAL ANESTHESIAINFILTRATION AT SURGICAL SITE IN OPEN APPENDICECTOMIES

OBJECTIVE: To know the duration of analgesia of right-sided transversus abdominis plane block versus local anaesthetic infiltration around incision site after open appendicectomy. METHODS: A double blind, randomized controlled study conducted in the operation theatre of a private hospital, during 8 months period from January 2017 till August 2017. Patients aged 60 years, presented with American Society of Anaesthesiologist (ASA) I or II, who had to be planned open appendectomy were enrolled. Two groups were classified, Group T (transversus abdominis plane block) group, infiltrating anaesthetic drug in the skin 2” cephalad towards the iliac crest using a “double-pop” technique and Group I (surgical incision) group in which patients received infiltration into the surgical incision. Both groups were infiltrated with the 0.6ml/kg of 0.25% bupivacaine anesthesia, at their respected defined site. RESULTS: Mean age of the patients in group T was 27.32 +10.16 years while mean age in group I was 26.06 ±8.38 years (pvalue 0.683). There were 181 (61.1%) males and 115 (38.9%) females. Mean analgesia in group T was 106.66 ±2.91 minutes duration and that in group I was 38.88 ±2.85 minutes (p-value 0.001). CONCLUSION: Transverse abdominis plane block to be a patient friendly technique, rendering patients pain free for a longer period of time after open appendicectomy, as compared to the surgical incision infiltration block.